SARS threat to economy stirs China's leaders

By Hamish McDonald, Herald Correspondent, in BeijingApril 16 2003

China's leaders have used their prestige to try to galvanise officials into a more urgent campaign against severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic (SARS), now seen as a threat to the country's rapid economic growth.

The recently-elected state president and Communist Party chief, Hu Jintao, has spent the past four days touring medical facilities and meeting leaders in southern Guandong province, where the lethal pneumonia was first noticed in January, to urge "greater efforts".

"We shall employ every means possible to cure SARS patients as soon as possible and to prevent the further spread or resurgence of the epidemic," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency.

But even in the capital Beijing, World Health Organisation experts were still waiting yesterday for clearance to visit military hospitals, said by a whistle-blowing doctor to have many more cases of SARS than officially reported by China's Health Ministry.

The WHO team has been visiting laboratories and hospitals in Beijing in hopes of finding ways to improve the city's handling of SARS, WHO spokesman James Palmer said.

Recent days have seen a shift from the earlier official line that the SARS outbreak was "effectively under control", with new state premier Wen Jiabao saying that despite much progress, "the overall situation remains grave".

Mr Wen says the SARS outbreak poses a threat to the economy, national prestige and social stability. Analysts warn that China's economy, growing at a six-year high of 9.9 per cent year-on-year in the January-March quarter, could slow in the second quarter because of reduced business travel and tourism.

State media yesterday reported on a massive effort to disinfect buses, taxis and other public facilities in hopes of preventing new infections from the disease. In notices posted in public places, the Government has advised people to wash their hands even after wiping their noses, to cut down on drinking and smoking and keep face masks handy.

Beijing has mobilised 2500 medical staff to visit the homes of suspected SARS patients or those at high risk of getting the disease, after the WHO added the city to its list of affected regions last Friday.

The disease is also spreading in the northern province of Shanxi, where the local Disease Control Centre yesterday reported 82 cases, up from a handful of cases a fortnight ago.

During his Guangdong tour, President Hu held a meeting in the border city of Shenzhen with the chief executive of Hong Kong, Tung Chee-hwa, to pledge all help for the former British territory, where about 1230 cases of SARS and 56 deaths are causing widespread panic and throwing its economy towards recession.

The personal involvement of top leaders, given prominence in official newspapers and state television, contrasts with the earlier suppression of a January 27 warning by Guangdong health authorities of a deadly and mysterious illness. That early information blackout is blamed partly for the rapid spread of SARS into Hong Kong and then to other countries by infected travellers.

China yesterday reported 14 new cases, but no further deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1432 since last November, with 64 of those patients dying.